Where is De Pere basketball star Johnny Kinziger now? Making noise as a freshman for Illinois State

Johnny Kinziger had a rough start to his first season of college basketball.

The end was far more spectacular, when the Illinois State freshman guard looked much like the one who led De Pere to the WIAA Division 1 state championship in 2023.

Kinziger went from role player to star almost overnight for ISU.

He entered the starting lineup in early February and flourished the final nine games, averaging 14.9 points and shooting 48.4% overall (44-for-91) and 43% from 3-point range (18-for-42). He played at least 35 minutes in every contest during that span.

If there were any doubts the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Kinziger could hold up to the rigors of NCAA Division I basketball, he answered them.

“I had great people around me,” Kinziger said. “I had great coaches. Great teammates. The coaches were doing whatever they could to put me in the right position and then, if I did make mistakes or I had a bad day, my teammates would always pick me up.

“We were really a close-knit group. On the court, we’d always be talking. Off the court, we’d have long conversations in the locker room after. If I was struggling with something I’d talk to them, and they’d help me get through it. I also learned that being confident is so big in college basketball.”

Johnny Kinziger had delayed start to college career

The day Kinziger stepped onto campus last June was a painful one.

Literally.

He started to feel something wrong in his pelvic area when he and his parents arrived in town the night before, and it kept getting worse.

It got so bad he couldn’t even move around in bed. He needed to use his upper body for everything.

Kinziger described the injury like the cover of a baseball coming off as the laces get looser and looser.

Except this was a muscle falling off his bone, and it hurt.

Kinziger traveled to Philadelphia for surgery a short time later and was out six weeks. Any time he attempted to do much before the procedure, the pain forced him to stop.

He finally was cleared about two weeks before the start of the season, but he never did get a full day of basketball activity during the summer.

The transition from high school to DI can be difficult even in the best of circumstances. It was far worse with the lost time.

When Kinziger finally got on the court, it was “crazy” to see the difference in the speed of the game. The biggest adjustment was in the physicality.

He noticed more is let go in college than high school, and facing stronger and faster players didn’t help.

Kinziger didn’t have a choice but to adjust as quickly as possible. Nobody was going to wait for him.

But taking a redshirt year never entered his thought process. He doesn’t know if the coaching staff pondered bringing it up, but he believes he learned a great deal by watching while out and that he was prepared enough by the time the season started.

Kinziger had a solid role off the bench to begin the year, playing 19 minutes in his first game against Lourdes, 30 the next game against St. Louis and scoring double figures in three straight after that against Eastern Illinois (11 points), Long Beach State (10) and High Point (14).

There was a time in December when his role was diminished. He appeared no more than 15 minutes in three straight games and five out of six.

Kinziger didn’t just have to get accustomed to the college game. He also had to get used to not winning almost every time he stepped on the court.

His De Pere team went a combined 93-15 during his four seasons and became the first boys squad in state history to go 30-0 in his senior year.

ISU went through a stretch from the end of December to the middle of January during which it lost six straight to drop to 8-10.

He lost seven games combined his last three years at De Pere and just three in his final two.

“I learned how hard it is to actually win,” said Kinziger, whose team finished 15-17. “It’s hard to win. It’s never going to be there for you, you have got to go take it. Day in and day out, you have got to be the more physical team.

“When we were going on that losing streak, and we lost a good amount of games this year, but sticking together was the biggest part of what (ISU) coach (Ryan Pedon) always told us. Putting things in perspective, too. We shot the ball poorly this year as a team, so that was the cause of most of our losses. We just have to be there for each other and learn from the last game and stick to what we do for the next game.”

Former De Pere Redbirds star has big finish to season

Kinziger’s play in the final stretch of the year looked much like his nightly performances at De Pere, where he became the metro’s all-time leading scorer with 2,134 career points.

His breakout game came in an upset win over No. 23 Indiana State on Feb. 13.

Kinziger scored 31 points and shot 10-for-12 overall in the 80-67 victory, finishing with the second-most points in a single game for a freshman in school history.

It was the Redbirds’ first win over a ranked team since 2016.

He followed with 18 points against Evansville, then had 21 points against Northern Iowa and 10 against Bradley.

Kinziger had the ball in his hands more. He started to attack more. He had the same aggressiveness and playmaking he did at De Pere.

“Once I started getting a little bit more of a rhythm, my minutes were more consistent and I started to shoot the ball better,” Kinziger said. “We started to win some games. It kind of just kept picking up.”

None of those games, perhaps not even the one against Indiana State, topped what he did against Missouri State on Feb. 28.

Kinziger scored 20 points, including burying a 15-foot shot with less than a second remaining, to lead his team to a thrilling 75-74 win.

It was the Redbirds’ fourth win in five games, representing one of their best stretches of the season.

The shot was the first game-winner Kinziger can remember hitting since he started his prep career, made even better because it came on his mother’s birthday and with her in attendance.

It was the perfect present for Krista Kinziger, although being the good son he is, he also got her flowers and maybe a card.

“I got to celebrate it with her after,” Kinziger said. “We were winning games at that time, too, so it was just good to keep the momentum going with that shot.”

Kinziger needed time during his rookie season to develop into the player he was by the end of it, giving everyone a glimpse of what he still could become during his final three seasons.

He was a player teammates would run through a wall for back in high school. That leadership started to emerge again at the highest level of college basketball.

It’s exactly what his coaches told him they wanted to see during meetings with him.

“Coach just had even more faith in me,” Kinziger said. “When the coaches start telling you to shoot the ball more, it always gives you confidence. My teammates would always put me in the right positions.

“I think it was just the confidence part and everyone believing in me and trusting me.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: De Pere's Kinziger has big finish to first college basketball season